The Clinton campaign has claimed that a cartoon frog used in an Internet meme is in fact a symbol for “white supremacy,” in response to an image of Pepe the Frog shared by Donald Trump’s son.
The claim was made in response to Donald Trump Jr.’s decision to share an image on Instagram entitled “The Deplorables,” with Donald Trump and several prominent supporters superimposed on a poster from The Expendables to mock Clinton’s claim last week that half of Donald Trump’s supporters are a “basket of deplorables.”
Pepe the Frog is a prominent face in the photo, which also includes Breitbart Tech editor Milo Yiannopoulos as well as politicians such as Chris Christie and Dr. Ben Carson.
In an attempt to horrify potential Clinton supporters, Elizabeth Chan, one of Clinton’s senior strategists wrote, that Pepe the Frog is a “symbol associated with white supremacy.”
“Wait. Really? White supremacy?,” the post continues before explaining that “Pepe is a cartoon frog who began his internet life as an innocent meme enjoyed by teenagers and pop stars alike.”
“But in recent months, Pepe’s been almost entirely co-opted by the white supremacists who call themselves the ‘alt-right.’ They’ve decided to take back Pepe by adding swastikas and other symbols of anti-semitism and white supremacy,” it continues.
The post then uses this as an attempt to attack Trump, who retweeted a mocked up image of himself as Pepe the Frog in October last year.
“Trump has retweeted his white supremacist supporters with regularity, but the connection between the alt-right and his campaign continues to strengthen. Now white supremacists have given Pepe the cartoon frog some Trump hair—and the candidate’s own son says he is ‘honored to be grouped with’ him,” the post concludes.
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